Viking Weapons and Combat Techniques by Short William R

Author:Short, William R. [Short, William R.]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
ISBN: 9781594165900
Publisher: Westholme Publishing
Published: 2014-11-14T16:00:00+00:00

Another trick with an axe is described in chapter 62 of Eyrbyggja saga. Outlaws living at the farm at Eyrr fortified it. The nature of the fortification (virki) is not certain, but it probably took the form of a tall stockade fence. Snorri goði and his men attacked the outlaws in their stronghold. Þrándr Ingjaldsson leapt up and hooked the head of his axe over the wall of the fortification. He pulled himself by his axe handle into the fortification and attacked Hrafn, cutting off Hrafn’s arm with his axe.

Images from the Bayeux tapestry show combatants using their axes two handed, but left handed. Thus, the blows come in on the undefended sides of their opponents.

This same technique is also taught in the later combat treatises.

One wonders whether men used sheaths on their axes in the Viking age to protect against accidental cuts. There is no archaeological evidence to suggest their use, and the little available literary evidence suggests they were not used. In chapter 144 of Íslendinga saga, which takes place well after the Viking age, it is said that an unnamed man was accidentally wounded by an axe as men mounted their horses to ride to a killing in west Iceland. The episode suggests that the head of the axe was not covered.

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